OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Fort Lauderdale Edition

OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale is proud to celebrate its 15^th anniversary edition from October 19 – 29. This year’s festival will feature 38 internationally acclaimed films and 26 shorts including premieres and documentaries that inspire, entertain, and educate along with a variety of parties and special events taking place at various venues throughout Broward County.

This year’s previously announced Centerpiece Film Glitter & Doom (USA/Mexico, 2023), a fantasy summer romance, will screen at 7 :30 p.m. on Thursday, October 26, at Savor Cinema. The film follows a musician who wears charisma as camouflage and a carefree kid about to run away with the circus as they fall in love at first sight.

A highlight for the women will be The Ladies’ Spotlight Film & Party beginning at 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 28, at Paradigm Cinemas: Gateway Fort Lauderdale (1820 E Sunrise Blvd.). Marinette (France, 2023) is biopic of Marinette Pichon, the first French female soccer player to sign on to the American professional league. She was a true pioneer and advocate for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and equality in general. An afterparty will take place at Hair Circus (501 SW 2nd Ave., Fort Lauderdale) immediately following the film at 9 p.m.

In addition to the ambitious line-up, OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale is pleased to announce its new OUTshine After Dark program showcasing a curated international selection of queer horror films, erotic thrillers and offbeat films that fit in with autumn’s spooky season vibe. Films to be screened include psychological horror films The Judgement  (Egypt, 2023) and Almamula (Argentina, France and Italy, 2023), horror film You’re Not Me (Tú no eres yo)  (Spain, 2023), the East Coast premiere of the homoerotic, magical The Fantastic Golem Affairs (El Fantastico Casso Del Golem)(Spain, 2023), and the East Coast premiere of the erotic thriller The Trace of Your Lips (La Huella De Unos Labios) (Mexico, 2023).

Additional selections of note include A Big Gay Hairy Hit! Where The Bears Are: The Documentary (USA, 2023); The Lost Boys (Le Paradis)(Belgium/France, 2023) – an official selection of the Berlinale and Frameline Festivals; the touching rom-com Cora Bora (USA, 2023) an official Selection of SXSW, OUTFest, Frameline, Honolulu Rainbow, and OUT On Film – Atlanta festivals; Chasing Chasing Amy (USA, 2023), the documentary behind the popular film that explores the transformational impact of a ‘90s rom-com on a 12-year-old kid from Kansas, coming of age and contending with queer identity; OUTshine’s Cocktails & Cinema locally produced feature Big Easy Queens (USA, 2023) and the filmed in Miami narrative February (Febrero) (Cuba/USA, 2022).

The suspenseful drama All Of Us Strangers (UK, 2023) will be the Closing Night Film commencing at 5:30 pm. on Sunday, October 29, at Savor Cinema. British director Andrew Haigh, whose 2011 feature breakthrough Weekend is among the most widely beloved queer romances of the 21st century, has returned with an expertly modulated, emotionally overwhelming love story suspended in a metaphysical realm. One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor, Harry (Paul Mescal), which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As a relationship develops between them, Adam is preoccupied with memories of the past and finds himself drawn back to the suburban town and his childhood home where he grew up. Immediately following at 8 p.m., festivities, awards and a celebratory evening will take place at The Fitz (503 SW 2nd Ave).

OUTrageous, OUTspoken, and OUTstanding, this year’s OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale edition is sponsored, in part, by Gilead, the State of Florida through the Division of Arts & Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward County Cultural Council. Support has been provided by the following funds at the Community Foundation of Broward: the Stephen and Ethel Keller Fund, the Maxine Powers Hofert Fund, the Drial Foundation Fund, and the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation Broward Community Fund at the Community Foundation of Broward. This program was also made possible by a grant from The Our Fund Foundation, an LGBTQ Community Foundation.

Ticket subscription packages are available and individual tickets start at $8 for the 15th anniversary edition of the OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival Fort Lauderdale. For more information, call (877) 766-8156 or visit outshinefilm.com.